Second Half Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,144 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,353,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $509.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.66.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.